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Valua
"For the glory of the empire!"-Valuan soldier #5001023 The nation of Valua is found in the northeastern quadrant of the map, and directly north of Nasr. One of the oldest nations in Arcadia, the valuan empire is currently led by his royal highness, Emperor Giacomo II. Information Geography : The Valuan continent is the largest single landmass in the arcadia cosmology. Because of this, Valua is the world's leading producer of steel. Valua also has an abundant supply of yellow moon stones, and by extension, electrical power. : The Valuan landmass is riddled with subterranean caves, making it a popular continent for thieves and smugglers, whose small, agile ships can navigate the jagged underbelly of the continent to evade arrest. : Despite it's mass, the Valuan nation boasts only a single city, named for the continent. The city of Valua was founded in the centre of a circular ring of impassible mountains, with a single functioning entryway. After establishing the city, the entryway to Valua was sealed with the grand fortress, a gargantuan defensive structure that acts as the gateway to Valua. Politics : Valuan foreign policy has generally been militaristic and aggressive, with the majority of their international relations focusing on veiled threats and posturing against Nasr, their southern neighbour, and only threat to Valua's military might. Valuan relations between north and mid ocean are largely quite passive, and focus mainly on the trade of food and raw materials from north and mid ocean. : As Valua was one of the first nations to make it to Ixa'taka, they hold the largest presence there of all nations. As valua is still self-sufficient for power, Ixa'taka holds little interest to Valua outside of being a strategic point of control, and bargaining chip. The Ixa'takan people, living primarily in jungle villages, are largely unaffected by the Valuan presence, and in turn are generally ignored by valua. : Internally, Valuan policy is directed primarily at building their military strength in defense against Nasr. A significant amount of Valua's finances are directed towards the building of warships, and the progression of military technology. Due to this, Valuan military technology is the best globally; however, the diversion of funds entailed by the military complex has negatively affected most of Valua's middle-lower classes. Finance : Valua's primary exports are Steel and yellow moonstones. Due to the relative abundance of both these materials on the Valuan continent, Valua has become one of the wealthier nations in Arcadia. Due to the tensions between Nasr and Valua however, much of the wealth flowing into Valua is directed towards the nation's military complex. In addition to this, Valua has recently been cutting social programs and worker compensation in order to better fund the war effort, as the cost of technological advancement has begun to outpace the speed of Valua's production. As a result of this, many of Valua's middle class not involved in military production have begun to find themselves unemployed, and the working poor of the city have almost universally become homeless. In contrast to this, individuals involved in the war effort, and in particular, individuals with ownership of material production or drydock facilities have become exceedingly wealthy in a short period of time. The resulting dichotomy has begun to fuel tensions between the Valuan classes, even resulting in a number of protests and demands for change, which have largely been disregarded by the Valuan ruling class, whose focus remains on the defense of their nation, or themselves. Military : The valuan military, while not the largest in the world (second to Nasr's,) is nonetheless the best equipped. Valuan military members are often armed with full body armor, as well as high quality weapons. Valua's military might primarily stems from the size and quality of the Valuan armada, their equivalent of a navy. The Valuan armada's ships are highly armed and armored, moreso than the technologically inferior, yet more numerous Nasrean navy. Valuan ships fire self-contained cannon shells that are comparable to bullets. The effect of these improved projectiles is that valuan cannon fire is more accurate than traditional cannons, as well as taking less time to reload. This technology has become practical only recently, however, and only the more advanced ships of the armada have been retrofitted for these new cannons. Valuan Armada : The Valuan armada, the most technologically powerful navy in the world, is presided over by six admirals, each of whom proved themselves as paragons of military capability in their own right. Each admiral embodies an aspect of the Valuan military complex, and as such, their tactics and diplomatic approaches vary widely. The combination of these individuals, however, has been in part responsible for the strategic might of the Valuan military. : The Valuan armada is also unusual in that it is the first nation to perfect the creation of metal ships, a prospect which had, up to now, been impossible due to the lift capacity of current engines, which could not support the significant increase in weight. With these new ships, Valua has turned the tables in the Valua-Nasr cold war, by fielding ships far more durable and powerful than their wooden predecessors. The major drawbacks to these new ships is that they are significantly slower than their wood counterparts, but boast greater firepower that a wooden ship would not have had the hull strength to support. Valua-Nasrean Cold War : As the primary military and financial powers in the world, Valua and Nasr have always harboured an innate distrust of each other, continually believing that their counterpart intends to take control of their nation through military force, as both nations boast large navies. This relationship, however, only became truly strained after the assassination of Valuan diplomat Adam Staedtler, which would later become known as the Medea Incident, named for the city in which the assassination occured. Staedtler's unresolved murder, along with the existing tension between the nations, spun the existing distrust into high gear, initiating a cold war between Valua and Nasr that has continued for the last 6 years. As a result, both nations' military expansion has resulted in the military might of both Valua and Nasr increasing dramatically. The recent creation of Valua's steel airships has drastically heightened the tensions of this arms race, as the new ships have proven quite superior to legacy models in combat.